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Archive for 2012

The Norwegian city of Molde has just 25,000 inhabitants, but every July the biggest stars of jazz and about 100,000 jazz enthusiasts flock to the town’s world famous international jazz festival. In designing the city’s new cultural center, the challenge faced by 3XN was to create a building that was flexible and robust enough to provide a framework for cultural life on both scales.

The architecture and design proposed for the new Restaurant and Bar “Frida Mexican Cuisine” at the Americana on Brand development is based on a concept that combines tradition, hospitality and festivity, three elements that had shaped the identity of the country, the ideology of its people, and the flavor of its cuisine.

About 800 meters long, with a square area of 185,000 square meters and designed for up to six million passengers a year.

Fraport and Lufthansa start operations in the extension of gate A at Rhein-Main airport, Frankfurt, which has been designed and implemented by the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp). The inauguration will take place on 2 October. The new A+ gate extends the areas used by Lufthansa at Terminal 1 and was required independently of the extension of the airport extension program, in order to be able to adequately serve the Airbus A380 and Boeing B747-8 wide-body aircraft. gmp’s commission included the new construction of the link between gates A and A+, also called the “root”, the baggage claim area A, the required conversions of existing structures in Terminal 1 as well as the new construction of gate A+.

This building derives by the need of rehabilitating a long term abandoned area in the centre of the city of Isernia, where there was an huge shed previously used as cinema.

I have developed the project idea through the unitary remodelling of the existing complex, which was surrounded by sixty years old houses. In this context I decided to intervene for a step forward by completely detaching from the surronding context and by using noble materials for reappropriating of real estate increasing value. This is then an urbanism revaluation realised through a refined building in a degraded context.

New Weatherstone residence or Rotopai Residence how our client call project, is actually a contemporary new farm house build on historic site established over 180 years ago. Project is located on a remote, rural plot in South Wairarapa – lower part of New Zealand North Island, for one of the larger milk producers, on same place where old family home was located and for new project relocated on new site few kilometers away.

In the heart of Vienna’s 11th district, on a lot densely vegetated by an old tree population, a new game-changing geriatrics center was to be realized.

Central idea:

High-quality dwelling for care-dependent senior citizens in the comforting atmosphere of a green oasis – rather then the common, sterile, hospital-style atmosphere of geriatrics centers as they used to be.

Design Challenge:
The logistical challenge was to create within a small home a segregation of spaces for the very different habits (privacy, acoustical, tidiness, etc.) of teenagers and adults while avoiding choppy spaces.

The German term Backskiste (BAXBOX) is used for the locker on board of a ship in which everything that is lying around unnecessarily can be stored quickly and easily. This Baxbox contains everything a boathouse owner will never miss but had always urgently needed. The new box was erected on the existing foundation of a small old house, whose bottom slab can be newly leveled with a simple jack to adjust to any changes. The floors and ceilings are made of solid glued laminated timber and half-timbered walls. It is covered with a protective layer of Silano foil and thick reeds. This allows the prefabricated box to match its environment in terms of functions and materials.

Everything about this villa, which has been virtually dug into a steep slope on the south coast of France, is aimed at joie de vivre: the enjoyment of the climate, the calm, and the view of the sea. An essential feature of this design is the large floating roof, resting on walls on both sides and at the rear. This roof demarcates the locus, sets it off from the surroundings, and orientates the view. It overhangs the whole building, a sculptural two-storey volume. Both the actual living quarters (first floor) and the children’s rooms (ground floor) are largely fitted with glass sliding partitions, and each has its own terrace.

Located between the city of Braga and Guimarães, the house finds itself in a large sloping terrain, part of a valley still partly preserved from residential areas. To the west, a line of water irrigates a thicket of «tiers pay-sage» and sustains on the other side a lush forest of eucalyptus trees. On this side, the cultivated fields, the ruins of a farm frozen in time, waiting to be rehabilitated. Foreseen was the unfolding of quiet lives in harmony with nature.